Our 2024 Nominees

Accountable

Dashka Slater 

This thought-provoking nonfiction narrative recounts the discovery of a racist social media account in the small town of Albany, California, that forever changes the lives of a group of high school students and leaves everyone wondering about accountability for harmful online speech. (Suitable for all teens)

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow

Zoulfa Katouh 

Eighteen-year-old Salama Kassab, a pharmacy student volunteering at the hospital in Homs, is desperate to find passage on a refugee boat for herself and her pregnant best friend, but first she must learn to see the events around her for what they are--not a war, but a revolution.

¡Ay, Mija!

Christine Suggs

Sixteen-year-old Christine takes their first solo trip to Mexico to spend a few weeks with their grandparents and tía. At first, Christine struggles to connect with family they don’t yet share a language with. Soon Christine settles into life in Mexico, eating pan dulce, drawing what they see, and growing more comfortable with Spanish. But when Mom joins their trip, Christine’s two worlds collide. They feel homesick, struggle against traditions, and miss being able to speak to their mom without translating. Eventually, through exploring the impacts of colonialism in both Mexico and themselves, they find their place in their family and start to feel comfortable with their mixed identity. (Suitable for all teens)

Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything

Justine Pucella Winans

Grappling with an ever-growing list of fears, nonbinary teen Bianca Torre, an avid birder, finds themselves investigating the murder of her neighbor with the help of their best friend, their crush, and a fellow birding aficionado. (Suitable for all teens)

Bittersweet in the Hollow

Kate Pearsall

When a girl goes missing in her secluded Appalachian town, seventeen-year-old Linden, who can taste other people's emotions, recovers haunting memories of her own disappearance and explores the legend of the Moth-Winged Man, leading her to wonder if there are some secrets best left buried.

Blue Lock, Vol. 1

Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura (transl. Nate Derr )

After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's mising? An absolute ace striker. The Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, so Blue Lock -- a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players -- is created. To survive this battle royale, the last striker standing will have to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in his way! (Suitable for all teens)

Breathe and Count Back From Ten

Natalia Sylvester

Verónica, a Peruvian‑American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body, in this gorgeously written and authentic novel.

Give Me a Sign

Anna Sortino

Ready for a change, Lilah, who suffers from hearing loss, becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind where she finds a community and a gorgeous Deaf counselor who volunteers to help her with her signing, stealing her heart in the process. (Suitable for all teens)

Just Do This One Thing For Me

Laura Zimmerman

When her scamming mother disappears and her schemes start unraveling, 17-year-old Drew is left with responsibility for her younger siblings and must decide whether to walk away from her mother's mess or keep the cons going for the sake of holding her family together. 

Money Out Loud

Berna Anat

From budgeting and money to debt and investing, this not-so-serious guide from the Financial Hype Woman explains the basics of personal finance to empower teens and young adults to shape their futures and change their world. (Suitable for all teens)

Promise Boys

Nick Brooks

Becoming prime suspects in the murder of their principal known for doling out extreme discipline, three Urban Promise Prep School students team up to catch the real killer and clear their names. (Suitable for all teens)

Rez Ball

Byron Graves

When the varsity basketball team members take him under their wing, Tre Brun, representing his Ojibwe reservation, steps into his late brother's shoes as star player but soon learns he can't mess up--not on the court, not in school and not in love. (Suitable for all teens)

The Search for Us

Susan Azim Boyer

When a DNA test matches strangers Samira Murphy and Henry Owen to each other, they combine efforts to search for their father and unravel the difficult truth of their shared past, forming a connection that only siblings can have. (Suitable for all teens)

This is Our Place

Vitor Martin (transl. Larissa Helena)

The house at Number 8 Sunflower Street tells the stories of three teenagers who have lived within its walls in the 21st century--Ana, a lesbian forced to leave her home, Greg sent to live with his aunt when his parents divorce, and Beto, a would-be photographer living during the COVID pandemic. (Suitable for all teens)

Threads That Bind

Kika Hatzopoulou

In a world where the children of the gods inherit their powers, a descendant of the Greek Fates must solve a series of impossible murders to save her sisters, her soulmate, and her city.

Throwback

Maurene Goo

Sent back to the ‘90s where she finds herself in high school with her 17-year-old mother, Samantha Kang finds the right romance at the wrong time while trying to fit into an analog world and make things right with her mom. (Suitable for all teens)

Warrior Girl Unearthed

Angeline Boulley

With the rising number of missing Indigenous women, her family's involvement in a murder investigation and grave robbers profiting off her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry takes matters into her own hands to solve the mystery and reclaim her people's inheritance.

Well, That Was Unexpected

Jesse Sutanto

When their parents secretly set them up, Sharlot Citra and George Clooney Tanuwijaya (whose father is obsessed with American celebrities) are thrown together on a trip to one of the most romantic places on earth, which leads to the unexpected. (Suitable for all teens)

Where You See Yourself

Claire Forrest

Having her heart set on a college in NYC with a major in Mass Media & Society, disabled high school senior Effie learns that sometimes growing up means being open to a world of possibilities you never even dreamed of. (Suitable for all teens)

The Wicked Bargain

Gabe Cole Novoa

Hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice, transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate Mar teams up with the most unlikely allies to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father and retrieve his soul from el Diablo. (Suitable for all teens)

Your Lonely Nights are Over

Adam Sass

Two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.